The mind body connection and fertility

Written by Lenore Pranzo

I totally believe in meditation and guided imagery, in helping people quiet the mind and calm the body. I use it with my private clients to help them decrease their anxiety and/or depression which permeates through their day more than they want. We practice guided meditations in person, in session. We also use it for ways to vision what my clients want the future to look like. When I heard about Circle + Bloom’s mind-body fertility program, I was totally intrigued. As a disclaimer, I am not being paid to write a review. I wanted to do this and they were lovely enough to send me copies of two programs.

The first one I tried was the Energy for Empowerment Program. It was fantastic. I will use it for a long time. It helped me relax and easily fall asleep. Joanne Verkuilen, creator and founder of Circle + Bloom, narrated. A good guide is one who can calmly talk you through the noise in your head and help you settle into a nice, gentle, and relaxed state. Joanne did that with a voice that was strong and calm, at the same time. She had me wanting to melt into my surroundings. I find guided meditation an easy way to add meditation to your routine, without the stress of trying to guide your mind. It also helps to relax, without personal judgment.

Happy Mind, Healthy Body, which is a 21-day program, had me picture a goal. The program has you  listen to one 20 minute meditation for 5 days during a week.  There are 4 meditations and one bonus one for immunity that you can listen to whenever you feel you need a boost.  Once I pictured a goal in the first week’s meditation, I had to picture it as either a pleasant goal or one that would be painful to obtain. This led me to a longstanding goal of mine, losing weight. I am sure it is the goal of many people. One way for me to reach this goal would be to add exercise back in my life. I just haven’t been able to stick with it lately. The excuses were plentiful. Since starting Circle + Bloom’s program, I have been able to realize that I should find a mode of exercise that is pleasant, and not a chore. Something that doesn’t require too much time and have me running around trying to fit all the other things I need to do in my day. Therefore, I have a goal of smaller time increment workouts that will easily fit into my day. This is something I can stick to and not worry about. I am still working through completely obtaining this goal and hope to have it sorted in the next month, with the help of Joanne’s melodic voice. Meeting goals takes time and breaking them down into smaller objectives makes anything manageable.

What I believe a mind-body program can do for everyone, especially those trying to get pregnant, is:

• Get you out of your busy head, for a period of time.
• Calm your body, that is constantly being poked, prodded, measured and analyzed (if you are doing fertility treatments).
• Allow you to think about things differently, without outside pressure.
• Help you let go of trying to control everything and let the narrator’s voice guide you.

Circle + Bloom specializes in women’s health, especially fertility and pregnancy. If you are struggling with infertility, they have many other fertility related, mind-body programs. Since I am no longer trying to have children, I wanted to review a couple that would apply to my own life. However, if you are looking to add something into your routine, their programs would be something for you to try. They would allow you to handle the stress you have while also making you look at what is making you stressed, to see if it needs tweaking. Please email me any questions you might have about my experience with these two programs or the mind-body connection. It is a wonderful way to add something to your life that will relieve stress and pressure, instead of increasing it. Any small amount of meditation added to your daily life can lead to limitless positive changes.

 

Lenore Pranzo is a CT Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and co-founder of Fertility Wellness Group, LLC. Fertility Wellness Group, LLC offers on-line fertility enhancing workshops and private coaching sessions that will help empower women to write about their own fertility struggles, which will lead to positive endings. You can learn more about Lenore and Fertility Wellness Group, LLC at http://www.fertilitywellnessgroup.com.

Should I take the summer off?

Written by Lenore Pranzo

A week into summer and, as I am starting to enjoy the idea of fewer scheduled activities, I remember what it was like to begin the summer during my fertility journey years.  It was always a dilemma.  “Should I slow down and relax?” or “Should I dive into another cycle, medication or natural?”  Knowing that feeling, that if I wasn’t doing something to try and get pregnant, then I would think it was a waste of time.  I wonder how many are considering taking the summer off, yet are so wrapped up in the timeline, they are worried they might miss an opportunity to start another cycle.

How can someone really embrace the power of the slow-paced summer or any time off, for that matter?  As I was discussing this with our on-line group recently, I realized it needs to be a goal.  Making it a goal, as part of the fertility journey and one that will enhance your chances, should make it more palatable.  So get out a piece of paper or your laptop and write down that goal.   Here is an example:

Goal: Take the summer off from trying to get pregnant.

Step 1: Discuss with partner that I am taking a break and discuss any disagreement with the notion that this will help our end goal.

Step 2: Make quick list of activities that I have been putting off for fertility.

Step 3: Schedule one activity in my calendar.

Step 4: Continue to schedule that activity for rest of “break” time frame, if it is enjoyable.

Step 5: Remember when thoughts come up about trying to get pregnant, tell myself that I am on a break and that this break is part of the process.

Making that break a part of your fertility plan might be the key to really enjoying yourself and your partner again.  This will give you time to reconnect with who you are and who you are in your relationship.  Use whatever you can to remind yourself that this break is important and is helping you obtain your goal of growing your family (examples: sticky notes everywhere, a new bracelet that anchors you to that or a nightly journal where you write it at the top of the page).  Here’s to a summer filled with new discoveries.

Lenore Pranzo is a CT Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and co-founder of Fertility Wellness Group.  Fertility Wellness Group offers on-line fertility enhancing workshops that will help empower women to write about their own fertility struggles which will lead to positive endings.  You can learn more about them at www.fertilitywellnessgroup.com.